Curtain Call
by keyboardcat324
Summary: Ambrose has come into contact with yet another villain, one so horrible even Malistaire and Morganthe look like simple play-things. Follow Saffron, a 14 year-old Pyromancer, as she journeys away from the comforts of Earth into Wizard City, finding out that she holds a very pivotal role in the fate of all of the Spiral. Rated K for mild violence and romance. (Cover image soon.)
1. Preface

**I decided to write this story for NaNoWriMo, but when that failed, I turned my attention towards just posting a Wizard101 Fanfic. I really love playing this game and after playing it for almost four years as of the date that this story was posted, why not combine my two favorite hobbies and pasttimes together in a wonderful story?**

**This is my attempt at writing a kind of PG rated story, so I can post this story on Wizard101Central as well to get my writing out into different communities. I really had fun writing this and I hope you all have fun reading. :)**

**~Written for linklover88, a great friend and one of the cutest gals I've ever had the fortune to meet. Amazing writer and aspiring NaNoWriMo participant. She may not play Wizard101, but without me finding her stories, I wouldn't be publishing them here.~**

**~Keep reading, and keep writing.~**

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"Gamma, I fear the worst has yet to come to Wizard City."

Merle Ambrose peered down at what was the Wizard City Commons. He was situated high in his tower that overlooked all of Wizard City. The world was small, but it was full of robust and bustling life. Wizards from young to old dashed and scurried hurriedly about, some vendors who were heading off to their shops in the early morning, some still learning the tricks of their trade and heading off to Ravenwood. Yet there were others still who were simply mingling about before they headed off to work, and others who were taking personal days off or traveling to far and distant lands for studies unknown. The peaceful scene that played out below Ambrose's spectacles made him almost believe what he had just said was a false statement. Perhaps it was. Maybe his mind was just playing tricks on him; after all, he was getting to that point where his age was definitely a factor in a lot of things.

Gamma ruffled his feathers a bit, and said nothing. He had heard this said before, first with Malistaire and then with the return of Morganthe. So it didn't come as a surprise that Ambrose would say such a thing. He had no doubt that something big was coming next.

"I fear there is someone who holds even more power than both Malistaire and Morganthe combined. Do you believe such a thing is possible, Gamma?"

The owl took flight from his perch and landed on Ambrose's shoulder, gazing down into the Commons in wonderment. "Hoo, no, but I have been proven wrong before."

Ambrose stroked his long, white beard, brushing out the bits of hair that had tied themselves in complicated knots that were too hard to get out with a simple brushing.

"Did I ever tell you about the person whom I saw in that vision in the ball the other day? It shocked me quite a bit."

"Hoo, I don't believe you did."

"Well, it seemed like it was a very tall person of sorts, I couldn't make out any features whatsoever. But what I did see was the most cursed magic ever produced! I couldn't believe my eyes. Here was someone manipulating a magic that is foreign, even to me! They looked like they were laughing maniacally, and they clasped what looked to be the crystal ball in their hands! I was quite dumbfounded."

Gamma turned troubled eyes to Ambrose. "This sounds quite serious Headmaster."

Ambrose turned away from the window and the intensity of the sun, walking a few feet away. "It really is. The ball is never wrong. That's why I feel so concerned- and confused. This threat doesn't seem plausible…"

"Do you think it could be… her, Headmaster?"

The unnamed "her" lingered in the deepest regions of Ambrose's memories. She had been pushed out of his mind for so long that it took quite a while for Ambrose to finally stumble upon the memory. And when he did, he took a quick glance over to Gamma, who had fluttered off to land on his perch once again. He busied himself scribbling important documents into a journal for documentation.

"Gamma, do you believe that it could be her? She should be dead."

"I don't really know Headmaster. She is supposed to be. I'd expect as much from how severe her punishments were…"

Ambrose sighed deeply, breathing out heavily through his nose and causing the whiskers of his beard to blow about a bit. "Then I'll leave her out of being a possible candidate. It's not reasonable to accuse a person such as her of being able to cause so much havoc and chaos for sheer entertainment… But yet again…"

Ambrose began to look for his ball, shuffling through many stacks of books and layers of papers that littered his desk. "I have her records here somewhere. If I remember correctly, she might have gotten out of prison on good terms, but then destroyed that very same prison with that magic of hers that has yet to even be given a name…"

Ambrose heard a clack. He froze in place, hunched over his desk. Gamma's frenzied scribbling had stopped. A strange presence seemed to linger in the room, but neither Ambrose nor Gamma could truly put a finger on what it really was.

That is, until the said person in discussion appeared.

"And quite right you are, Merle. It seems that crystal ball of yours is more accurate than it seems."

A tall silhouette of a woman stood in the corner of the tower, one hand perched upon her hip, the other concealing something that resembled a sphere. Her features were near impossible to distinguish in the low light.

Ambrose summoned his staff and slowly turned over his right shoulder to face her. He squinted into the darkness, peering at her through his spectacles. "Ah, so you've decided to come straight here rather than plan some sort of attack I see…"

The woman traced her long, delicate fingernails along the sphere. "And what would make you think I would be so foolish as to wait for you to come find me once you peeked through my long forgotten records and realize I killed every last living being in that God forsaken prison?"

Gamma hooted in surprise. But Ambrose wasn't daunted. He knew what this woman was capable of. That had been years and years ago. It amazed him that she hadn't aged nearly as much as he had in that amount of time. They were near the same age, but Ambrose was becoming a frail old man, ready to relinquish his role as Headmaster. The silhouetted woman was anything but old. Her body wasn't worn away and hunched over, none of her limbs showed any sign of weakness like Ambrose's did. His arms shook slightly, even without exerting much exercise. But hers were strong and muscular, blood pumping through her veins. She stood upright with a sense of flare. Her body spoke for her: she was far from weak. And Ambrose would never be the same wizard he was when he was in his younger years. He and Gamma were outmatched.

But Ambrose didn't let it seem this way. While Gamma was trapped in his state of shock from hearing that one wizard could take down an entire prison without the help of others, Ambrose addressed her.

"You shouldn't be here. Leave this place, or suffer the consequences. Your quarrel is not with these innocent people- it is with the past, the fallen, and the broken. And they are no longer here."

He gazed at her for the longest moment, a moment that seemed to drag from seconds to minutes to hours and maybe even longer. The tension in the room continued to grow the longer they remained silent, the ticking of the nearby grandfather clock the only thing in the room keeping any sense of time. It was a showdown of the ages.

The woman slowly moved her hand away from the sphere she had been concealing and Ambrose dropped his jaw. There, right in the protective palm of this villain, was none other than the very crystal ball Ambrose himself used to predict this horrible fate. Gamma hooted in surprise, and the woman cast dagger eyes right at the owl. He quickly clacked his beak shut, and skittered away behind a curtain concealing the window.

She directed her attention back to Ambrose with a flip of her hair. "Now, why should I do that? This teasing you is just too much fun, Merle. Don't you remember? When we were young wizards together, learning all about magic…" She sighed, gazing off into the distance, seeming to lose herself in her memories. "Do you remember how happy we were to discover this strange magic? As impossible as it was to control, it was incredibly fun…"

Ambrose quickly shut his mouth. He shook his head a bit, trying to get his mind to focus once more. How was it possible that she could have gotten ahold of the ball? Nobody else was allowed into this room. Only a select few students and faculty were allowed into this room, for practical reasons. Unless…

"Who have you convinced to work under you? There isn't anybody in Wizard City who would dare hand over the keys to my tower to some stranger without being heavily persuaded."

The woman giggled, a childlike laugh that was far from seeming to fit her. "Oh Merle, you are still just as naïve as you were when we were young. Come now, you really can't think of _one_ person who would turn against you, even on accident?"

Ambrose racked his brain for ideas, but none came. He drew a blank. He stared at the curtain where Gamma was hiding, unable to do anything. Gamma was the headmaster's best man, but in situations like this Gamma was useless. He was only a bird, and as such he didn't know how to properly use magic. It was times like these Ambrose really wished he could take advantage of having two magic wielders in the room.

The woman picked up the ball and slowly turned it around in her hands, gazing into the cool, blue depths. Nothing came up, but the swirling cloud of matter that was encased inside of the glass dome gave off a beautiful luster and shine that sparkled even in bright sunlight. The ball was beautiful, and was an incredible tool. Now the woman had it in her possession, and she could do anything she wanted with it. Ambrose didn't know what, but he knew she wanted the ball for a reason. She continued to scrutinize the ball with much interest, making sure to look at every single inch before speaking again.

"I think it's time you figured out what was really happening behind the scenes of your precious Wizard City."

And with that, the ball transformed itself into a massive swirling of black matter, spinning so fast inside of the ball that Ambrose assumed it was going to break. But it didn't. Instead, he saw the black matter materialize into something else entirely- woman and their children screaming and being attacked, seasoned wizards and PvP Warlords alike being overtaken and overthrown by an unseen army, and the Commons in a look of complete and utter disaster and chaos. Fires were igniting all over the world, the fire elves rebelling against the very wizards who protected them, the Aquilian people destroying the link between the two worlds, the inhabitants of crab alley declaring war on the above and storming Triton Avenue, taking anybody captive who didn't follow their orders. Things in Wizard City were getting insanely out of hand. There were no signs of it stopping either; the scene just continued to play on and on and on…

Ambrose said nothing. His eyes never once lingered while watching the scene within the ball play out. However, his spirits quickly were sinking. Fast. The ball was never wrong. It always told the truth. It told the truth with Malistaire, it told the truth with Morganthe… and it told about the impending doom of this very woman standing before him. So seeing Wizard City spin around into a complete mess of decay caused such shock and disbelief in Ambrose that it seemed almost impossible for him to fathom that the ball really did indeed determine Wizard City's fate.

Seeing the astounded look on Ambrose's face, the woman giggled once again, using her free hand to cover her mouth in a devious way and batted her eyes for a bit of added affect.

"Oh dear me, was this all caused by me? Oh I'm quite so sorry Merle… I never knew my playing with my magic and powers could cause so much harm to your poor… _innocent… _people…"

She put emphasis on the word innocent, making it drip in a venomous hatred that was masked only by the smile that alighted the woman's face. Ambrose gazed at her with a hardened stare. She was mad, she was. Insane. Crazy. What did she possibly want from him, coming here and wreaking havoc on a world she grew up in and loved so much?

His question would remain unanswered. The woman's demeanor quickly changed from that of a childlike poise and instead into a hardened woman of her years, worthy of not only respect, but of scorn. Gamma hooted a warning just as the woman slowly raised her free arm above her head, a wicked smile alight on her face. She clenched her fingers into a strange and jagged shape, and let loose some of her magic, sending sparks of pure black shooting across the room. The foreign magic caused the lights in the room to completely flicker off, all candles to extinguish. Gusts of wind burst through the room haphazardly and randomly, without anything being a catalyst. Ambrose dived underneath of his desk, right before a massive spark struck the very air where he had been. A strange hissing noise followed the crack of the spark, and a pitch black hole created a strange void space for a few moments. A few things were sucked into the hole and disappeared completely before the hole disappeared.

A black hole. A mini black hole, is what the woman had created. Ambrose gazed in complete astonishment at the air where he had just been standing. No way this woman had just created a black hole!? But it was true; the woman cackled as she let loose more sparks, creating more miniature black holes all over Ambrose's office. The entire incident was beginning to get way out of hand, and slowly he watched as all of his possessions literally became nonexistent. He had to try and stop the madness before it continued.

He gripped his staff and drew a symbol into the air, one that resembled a flame. From the sparks of the tip of his staff unleashed a great beast, the roar of a dragon almost deafening. If using magic against magic was the only way to chase this woman away, then so bet it. He was going to get rid of her, once and for all!

He didn't see where he had casted the spell, but he hoped that the distraction was enough for him to plan another move. It had worked, if only for a moment. The woman stopped sending her rays of black magic and instead focused on working up a shadowy shield that completely cocooned her body, making sure none of the flame that licked at her heels would singe any bit of her clothing or body. The flame unfortunately reached the rest of Ambrose's possessions, but they were of little value now. His first goal was to remove this disaster of a woman from his office.

The great beast that was unleashed let loose a roar and fire spewed from its mouth like a broken water faucet. There was no end to the flames, and it seemed as if the woman's shadowy cocoon had been broken through. But, as the dragon's form dissipated and the magic dispersed, Ambrose realized that the shield was only charred and barely damaged. However, it was apparent that it wouldn't hold another hit. Just as he began to draw yet another symbol into the air, the woman's hand shot up out of the cocoon and a spark struck his staff, causing it to jerk out of Ambrose's hand and fly across the room into the wall. There was no time to get it now; all Ambrose could do was wait for what was coming next.

But, to his surprise, she grabbed the crystal ball and made a run for it, diving through the flames that the dragon had caused and out the door, disappearing in a cloud of shadowy magic. As the flames from the dragon died down some, he stalked through the few charred remains he had and gazed out through the doorway into the grand hall. There was no sign of anybody, let alone the woman. She was gone, for good.

Ambrose wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned against the open doorway, slumping against it in defeat. If this was any testimony to the extent of his powers, it was a pitiful one. Gamma quickly appeared by his feet, looking up at Ambrose with much concern in his eyes. But, he said nothing. He knew Ambrose well enough to not even speak a word. Ambrose would speak in his own time.

He cast sad eyes down to the bird, and slowly reached his hand up to adjust his spectacles as they had gone askew during the short battle. A great sigh escaped between his lips as he did so, and a single tear slid down his cheek. Bittersweet memories flooded through his mind of all the times he had with that woman… great memories of growing up and planning to start a school for other aspiring wizards who wished to harness the elements of nature and use them for the betterment of the people.

But she had thought otherwise. Upon finding this strange magic, she quickly saw the negative sides of harnessing these powers. However, she had embraced them, and tempted Ambrose to take the bite of the apple and join in the fun of using it. But he had swiftly refused, and with his refusal came an offense that was impossible to fix. The two parted ways as they got older, and Ambrose's vision came into fruition. However, the woman's didn't. She quickly got into the bad side of the wizarding world, and made friends with all the wrong types of people. Rumor had it she was even holding meetings to discuss this dark magic and to try and distribute it; however, it was too powerful for any normal wizard to try and harness. Which made her very unique in the fact that she had mastered it so quickly.

She had even held discussions with Malistaire in an attempt to spread her magic. But few accepted it, and the few who did usually ended up failing miserably trying to use the magic, and ended up either harming themselves, or getting themselves killed. Ambrose didn't know why she held such a divine hatred for the people who refused her magical beliefs, but he did know one thing for certain:

She wasn't to be messed with. And she was serious about seeking revenge.

His tears began to flow freely then, and Gamma wrapped his wings around his legs in a gesture of comfort. Ambrose nodded down to the bird, the only thanks he could muster. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back to rest it against the doorway, allowing quiet sobs to escape. Gamma continued to try and comfort Ambrose, but he knew it was futile. The pain that the old headmaster was suffering was a pain that was impossible to heal. Nothing but time and forgetfulness would heal scars that were as deep as the ones left by the woman who had just attempted to destroy the very heart and soul of Merle Ambrose.

What had gone so horribly wrong?

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**The next chapter will hopefully be up by the end of January, along with my other story Redemption. Check it out if you are a Legend of Zelda fan! Note: It is geared more towards older audiences than this story is, so if you aren't fond of romance, then I advise you don't read it. However, if you enjoy pairings between Link and Dark, then it'll be very much worth your time!**

**Hope to see you all again very soon...**


	2. Chapter 1: A Formal Introduction

**Chapter 1 is up! Woo! I actually had the majority of this chapter written, but I felt like spacing out the updating on here so that it wasn't like an immediate post right after the other.**

**This chapter breaks away from Wizard City and actually comes back to Earth, introducing the main character and is basically giving you a bunch of background on her personality, habits, family, etc. Pretty simple and straightforward.**

**Hope you all like. :)**

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The clock chimed one, signaling the end of lunch and the beginning of what Saffron liked to call "Relaxation". It was far from relaxing, but she made the best of it and kept her chin high. In all reality, "Relaxation" was the term she coined for the chores her parents gave her to do every day, the first being wash the dishes. Today was one day where the amount of dishes was particularly large. Her younger brother, Isaiah, had insisted that he help out with making jellyrolls, a new dessert he found in one of their mom's cookbooks; however, the recipe had called for utensils that her mother had rarely ever used, thus causing a huge search to go about in their kitchen. After half an hour of searching, they finally had everything they needed. Her brother several times tried to jump in the middle of the baking and claim he could do something, but more than once did his antics prove fatal for the poor jellyroll batter, and they'd have to start from scratch.

This happened three times. Saffron sighed as she rinsed all of the pans. Perhaps it was a good learning experience for both her and her brother; she needed to learn patience, while her brother needed to just learn the basics of cooking101. However, patience wasn't her forte, and she had very little to spare. She almost stormed off on the second attempt, claiming she had better things to do than to sit around watching her brother ruin bit by bit of the recipe. Her mom had given her a stern warning look before Saffron shut her mouth tight. Her mom's silent glare told her everything; there wasn't going to be language like that in her mother's house, especially with Isaiah present. That being said, it didn't prevent Saffron from silently cursing to the world all of the reasons why she should be watching her favorite reruns of ICarly rather than trying to teach her brother that a whisk and a spoon did two completely different things in baking, and that a steak knife wasn't a bread knife, and neither of which were required for jellyrolls in the first place.

Saffron wasn't that fond of baking, but somehow it was as if she was a master chef. Whenever her mother would need to bake something, there would almost always be something Saffron could do better with the recipe to make it stand out and pop. She actually hated cooking and baking, but that didn't stop her mother from taking advantage of Saffron's special talent. The duo had entered numerous cooking and baking contests over the years, usually placing in the top three of almost any contest they entered. The worst was when they had placed tenth out of twelve groups of competitors. It had been a horribly humid day, and the competition was outside. Ninety degree heat, the sweat dripping from people's faces, and cicadas buzzing in the trees; it was the perfect picture painted for a day at the pool. However, Saffron and her mom instead entered a baking contest, for cake. The cake held together well for being baked in the heat, but when it came time to make the frosting and frost the cake, it was a complete disaster. The frosting had gone all wrong with the amount of humidity in the air, and Saffron's long, dirty blonde hair had slowly curled throughout the entire process. At the end, the cake was lopsided and Saffron's mom was so frustrated that she simply said, "We're done!" After that, her mom took a notable break from contests, much to the delight of Saffron.

A fork accidentally flipped from Saffron's hands that were clasping a bunch of silverware, and it landed with a loud clang on the tiled floor. She flinched, waiting to see if anybody would care enough to come bolting into the room to save the day. She held her breath for a few moments, and looking around, noticed nobody coming. She slowly let it out as she placed the clean dishes aside on a drying rack, and picked the fork up. She inspected it a bit, trying to determine whether or not it had gotten dirty enough from the short time it spent on the floor to need washed. She decided the five second rule would suffice for the time being and threw it on the drying pile. She drained the sink and, wiping her hands, turned her eyes to the chores list that was posted on the fridge. She threw the towel in her hands aside and crossed her arms with an annoyed huff when she saw the last item on the list:

_Clean your room!_

Saffron stared at the cursive writing for another second before rolling her eyes and staring up at the ceiling in dismay. Was it really all that necessary for her to clean her room? After all, her mother never came into the room except to tell her what things she wanted done around the house, or to announce some special event she needed to get ready for. Usually Saffron was alone to be in her room, laptop on her lap and headphones on, listening to her favorite music and chatting away on Skype and Twitter. She had tried Facebook for a while, but she quickly lost interest since she saw it was almost the same as Twitter, with some slight differences. Besides, all of her friends had a Twitter and only half of them had a Facebook, so it was more rewarding. Plus, instant messaging on Skype was better than Facebook, so it wasn't an investment she cared to make.

When she turned to leave, Saffron noticed some writing scribbled across the bottom of her chores sheet that wasn't on her brother's, which she noticed with distaste that he hadn't even started. She knew he was off playing video games, most likely Mario Kart, and figured her mom would come home and tell him off for it. Nevertheless, he wouldn't get into too much trouble. Her mom's punishments were reasonably fair, she mused, compared to things she had heard from her closest friends at school. Her parents seemed to have very laid back demeanors, but still encouraged a semi-strict punishment system for bad behavior at home. Saffron knew cursing was the worst offense, and so far she hasn't gotten caught with her experimenting with some of her new, colorful language. She had no doubt that a word would probably slip sometime, but she would be prepared. Being grounded wasn't something she favored.

She looked at the note on the page carefully, making sure she read each individual letter. The handwriting for this was still her mom's but was hastily written in sloppy cursive, so that the whole thing looked like one giant squiggle. Saffron hated when her mom got lazy with writing, the cursive would almost always become just bunches of scribbles across the page. However, after a few minutes of scrutinizing, she read:

_And BTW Ron, if you do ALL your chores before tonight, we have something very important to show you!_

_Such a tease… _Saffron mused to herself. Ron was the nickname her family and close friends called her. She didn't care that it was a guy's name; it suited her and was out of the norm. Her very name, Saffron, wasn't commonly used, which made her all the more proud to bare such a unique nickname. Guys always made a bit of a fuss over hearing what her nickname was, but once they got adjusted to calling a girl a guy name, most never thought about it for another moment. The only one of her guy friends who made any sort of fuss was Jared, but Jared was that one dude who always made an issue out of everything and always tried to make jokes out of the simplest of things. They were amusing at best, but Saffron loved the contrast he gave to an otherwise gloomy day, especially Mondays. Those were the worst.

She walked through the kitchen doorway past the main foyer where the family's Snowshoe, Mittens, was sleeping in a cat basket, and past the enormous grand staircase that served as a bold statement when anyone entered the house. Saffron loved the regal simplicity and beauty of the home her parents had picked to raise her family in; the grand foyer with its incredibly high ceilings and glistening crystal chandelier added that elegant flare that was kept reserved for royalty. The intricately designed maroon and plum colored rug added color, while the stained hardwood kept the space seeming airy and open, especially whenever somebody had on boots or heels. They would have that familiar "clack" that came with wearing any sort of fashionable item anywhere but on carpet. The detail on the handrails was one of her favorites as well. The design was similar to that of the movie Titanic, one of Saffron's favorites. The stairs led up to a large painting of who knows what, Saffron had never cared much for art, and then the stairs split into a fork off in both the left and right direction, both sides winding around to meet the length of hallway that ran above the foyer. The hallway wasn't as much of a hallway as it was a bridge inside of the house, complete with handrails. The hallway ran the length of the foyer until it hit the walls, leading off to her and her brother's bedroom on the right side, complete with full bath and game room, and to the left her parent's bedroom, a guest bedroom that was converted into an office, and an exercise room. Her dad's "man cave" was situated downstairs, in the finished basement. It was arguably the biggest space in the house, and also arguably the most fun place to hang. The living room, formal dining room, kitchen, breakfast nook, and another full bath were on the first floor of the house. However, Saffron spent most of her time in either the game room or her bedroom, mostly to escape her mother ordering her around for extra chores, and to escape Isaiah's obnoxious friends when they came over.

Saffron gracefully scaled the stairs in a few quick jumps, taking two steps at a time, and pushed open the door to her room. She loved how much space she had in here, being able to even sometimes bring the Wii in for a few games before her brother would eventually figure out that his older sister high jacked his birthday present. However, lately her room had been in such chaos that even thinking of bringing the Wii in to play bowling was cause for concern in regards to safety. The amount of dirty and clean clothes littering the floor and her bed was one thing, along with the overflowing trash can of candy bars and random assortments of books and school work flung about on her desk. Her lamp was crooked from the amount of times that she needed to swivel it around to see better, so it was permanently stuck in its altered position. Laying beneath the lamp's gaze was yet another note, unmistakably written with that same characteristic sloppy cursive her mom wrote in.

_Oh, forgot to tell you, can you help your brother make dinner tonight? Your dad and I are going on a date…_

Saffron skimmed the rest, knowing her goals for the day before she even finished. Teach her brother how to cook? It sounded like a horrible idea. He was too hyper and didn't listen properly when she would tell him to not touch anything, and to not just randomly do steps out of order. However, she figured just making tacos would be simple enough that even her brother could brown some meat on the stove and add some seasoning. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

She sighed and turned to her room, propping her hands up on her waist and surveying the room. Chaos and disaster lay all about, and Saffron honestly had no idea where to start. Tidy up her desk, or put away her clothes? Empty the trash? Finish filling the trash? She didn't know. This was one reason she hated trying to clean her room. It was just such a mess that it would take the better part of an hour or so to just go through _some_ of the items in her room and to sort them out properly. She decided that the clothes would be the simplest, considering that all she had to do was throw the dirty into the hamper and collect the clean up together and find either another spot to put them all or somehow magically find enough hangers to hold everything. She had plenty, just her arsenal of clothes continued the more and more she got into fashion and splurging on herself when she got her weekly allowance. Her mom scolded her for such antics, but where her mom saw wasteful spending, Saffron saw the investment of a lifetime.

She ran around all over her room, grabbing dirty clothes and piling them into her right arm until the wad of clothes was so big she could barely stand up straight without half of the clothing dumping from her hands back onto the floor. She waddled over to her dirty clothes hamper and, with quite a struggle, emptied the contents into it. It was already overflowing just with that one load. Saffron grunted with some annoyance… No wonder half of her clothes were missing. They were all _dirty._

She spun around and did the same with her clean clothes. She plopped them all onto her bed for the time being. She didn't have much patience for organization, so she quickly skimmed through the massive pile and sorted them by shirts, pants, socks, pajamas, etc... Once she finished with that, she turned her attention to the large amount of wrappers of various brands and colors that had amassed on top of her end table.

_Oh joy._

Hershey's, Butterfinger, KitKat, Skittles, M&M's, Mike and Ike, so much candy was piled all over. Half of the wrappers had ended up tumbling to the floor, in a vain attempt to escape the confines of their prison. Saffron grabbed her trash can (which was already spilling over onto the floor) and started shoving the majority of the wrappers into the bin. Hopelessly so, because once she sat the bin back down, everything she had just added came tumbling out, spewing all over the place. Saffron hissed in frustration. She hated messes, yet one look at her own bedroom, and it was a pigsty. Did she really believe she could easily, and quickly, tidy up her room in time to even start making dinner for her brother? It was only now two in the afternoon, but even so, she only had about 3 hours left before she knew her brother's stomach would start rumbling and he would stomp up the stairs into her room, claiming he was, once again, starving.

Tough luck, the kid was far from starving… If she didn't hide his candy every year on Halloween, the kid would be twice the size he was now. Mean to think, but it was the truth. Her younger brother ate food like it was his job, and he was the entire family's replacement for a garbage disposal. More often than not he would steal food off of people's plates if they weren't looking, even in public places, and quickly shove the food in his mouth before anybody could even say, "Isaiah, drop it!" The poor kid always made a huge fuss out of the matter, and sometimes he even ended up crying like a baby. Saffron couldn't believe her parents condoned the behavior to the extent they did, but she knew it wouldn't help matters any if they were as strict with him as they were her. She and her brother were two different people, and he was a lot more sensitive. She sighed. She would just have to deal with it. And try to deal with all this mess she created…

She heard some delighted screaming coming from downstairs, and knew her brother was indeed playing Mario Kart, just like he wasn't supposed to be. She rolled her eyes and pulled out the trash bag, tying it up and setting it aside, looking into the bottom of the bin to see if there were any extra trash bags she had stashed there. Luckily, there were two bags stuck in the bottom for safe keeping. She pulled one out and shoved the remaining candy wrappers into it. When she was finished, she stared at the bag in surprise. This one was entirely full. _Surprise surprise…_ She thought. Here she was, complaining her brother ate too much candy, and her excess of candy wrappers filled two trash bags. Such a sight, she didn't know how her parents hadn't yelled at her for it before. But it was just as well. She would have ignored them, or would have talked back, saying it was her room and her parents were never even in the room in the first place. A simple note was all it took to get her to clean her room, she realized. No need for yelling, no need for punishment. Just a simple note, with bribery on it. Bribes… The best way to get your kid to do something, she mused.

The night progressed, and at the end of two hours, her entire room was transformed from a complete chaotic mess of a pigsty to a nice and tidy room fit for a queen. Her clothes were all organized and put in their proper places, her floor vacuumed, and her nightstand neat and orderly. Her dirty clothes hamper was empty now that she had done the laundry, and all that trash had been pitched outside into the dumpster for garbage pick up the next day. She had even made her bed, something her mother was always happy to see when she got home. Saffron hadn't anything else to do, so she felt her time was spent wisely. And, she had an hour to spare to chat to her friends on Skype until she had to start making food for her always hungry, never satisfied brother. She ran over to her mirror and started messing with her make-up and hair. Almost always, if she couldn't stay on Skype for over an hour, her friends forced her into a group chat. So of course she wanted to make sure she looked good for the camera.

Five minutes later Saffron was seated in front of her laptop at her desk, anxiously waiting for the log in screen to pop up. She kept fidgeting and playing with her hair, twirling a particularly long blonde strand between her fingers. She needed to get it cut, the edges were a little frayed and it was uneven in places. She'd probably call them tonight after dinner and go in the next day for an appointment. The laptop screen went from a completely black void to a piercing purple shade. She quickly typed in her password, and the violet flower that covered the screen transformed into the desktop , with a slideshow going through for her wallpaper of all the pictures she had taken on her phone and camera. Her favorites were with her camera, where she would go on a sort of "professional photoshoot" and take pictures of anything that caught her fancy. Skype began to blink its familiar orange hue, and all of her other applications popped up on her screen in time.

However, the message that was sent to her Skype was one that she wasn't expecting, and it wasn't from someone she even knew. Somehow someone had gotten ahold of her contact information, and had attempted to add her with quite a lengthy "hello" message. The name that was blinking in her window said, "Mr. Lincoln- Registrar". She had never heard of a Mr. Lincoln before, only adding to her confusion. She scrolled her cursor over the friend request and the window popped up, with about two well-written paragraphs typed in. She began to question whether or not this person had ACTUALLY meant to send this to her, or if they had gotten seriously mistaken when looking for the person they wanted.

She began to read the message anyhow, and was very surprised by what she read.

_Dear Saffron,_

_It has come to our attention here at Ravenwood School that you have some incredible potential to begin your education in the art of Pyromancy. We had no other way to contact you properly, as you have no working email and your only other means was through another such thing as Twitter; unfortunately, none of our staff are very versed with these types of Earth technologies, so we had to resort to this unusual program. Please bear with us as we describe what Ravenwood School is and who we are._

_By now we are very aware that you are wondering what is Ravenwood School of Magical Arts? It is a very prestigious school for those who are proficient in the areas of magic and combat, a specialty that we teach here. This school is an open-campus facility, meaning you walk about much like your community college's you have on Earth. We also have student dorms that you are allowed to stay in if you wish, since you live very far from the Spiral! If you accept this friend request, we will be more than happy to explain more in detail why we have come to you._

Saffron stared dumbly at her screen. What is this? Who was this and how did they get her information? Why were they talking like they knew nothing of Earth? What's the "Spiral"? What on earth was going on?

She continued to gawk at her screen, not knowing whether it was safe or not to accept the request. But curiosity got the better of her and with a single click she was now friends with this "Mr. Lincoln". Instantly a message blinked up at her, just seconds after the accepted the request.

_Hello, Saffron!_

She paused, unsure of whether to reply to this stranger or to just slowly close her laptop and pretend that nothing was happening. More yelling from her brother's room indicated that he had potentially lost a race and soon a fit would ensue. She didn't feel like Skyping now. She began to panic a bit, biting her lip, until another message popped up onto the screen.

_Welcome to taking the first steps into the world of Pyromancy!_

And then she heard the doorbell.

* * *

**I hope to have chapter two up by the end of February. This is yet again another busy month for me with winter guard (the flag portion of the marching band, only indoors in a gym performing without the band). It's really fun. ^_^**

**Until next time... o_o**


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